The manufacture of integrated circuits (IC), semiconductor devices, flat panel displays, optoelectronics devices, data storage devices, magnetoelectronic devices, magnetooptic devices, packaged devices, and the like entails the integration and sequencing of many unit processing steps. As an example, IC manufacturing typically includes a series of processing steps such as cleaning, surface preparation, deposition, lithography, patterning, etching, planarization, implantation, thermal annealing, and other related unit processing steps. The precise sequencing and integration of the unit processing steps enables the formation of functional devices meeting desired performance metrics such as speed, power consumption, and reliability.
The drive towards ever increasing performance of devices or systems of devices such as in systems on a chip (SOCs) has led to a dramatic increase in the complexity of process sequence integration and device integration, or the means by which the collection of unit processing steps are performed individually and collectively in a particular sequence to yield devices with desired properties and performance. This increase in complexity of device integration has driven the need for, and the subsequent utilization of increasingly complex processing equipment with precisely sequenced process modules to collectively perform an effective unit processing step. For example, an advanced integrated copper barrier and seed deposition tool will include a degas module, a preclean module, a barrier deposition module, a seed deposition module, a cool module, and combinations thereof. Collectively, the integration of precise modules in a precise sequence allows the copper barrier and seed layers to be deposited effectively. In another example, an advanced copper electroplating tool may include a surface preparation module, an electroplating module, a spin rinse dry module, a thermal annealing module, and combinations thereof. In yet another example, an integrated copper chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) tool may include a copper polish module, a barrier polish module, a cleaning module, a rinse/dry module, and combinations thereof. The precise sequencing of the unit processing tools, in addition to the unit process modules within each tool, must be properly sequenced and integrated. As an example, for a typical copper interconnect process flow used in IC manufacturing, a monolithic substrate or wafer processed within the copper barrier and seed deposition tool is followed by subsequent processing in a separate electroplating tool to substantially form the bulk copper metal deposition and will then be processed in a separate CMP tool for planarization, which includes the removal of excess unwanted bulk copper and barrier layer conductor films.
In addition to the increasingly challenging process sequence integration requirements, the tools and equipment employed in device manufacturing have been developed to enable the processing of ever increasing substrate sizes such as the move from 4″ to 6″, to 8″ (or 200 mm), and now to 12″ (or 300 mm) diameter wafers in order to fit more ICs per substrate per unit processing step for productivity and cost benefits. Other methods of increasing productivity and decreasing manufacturing costs have been to use batch reactors whereby multiple monolithic substrates can be processed in parallel. A common theme has been to process the entire monolithic substrate or batch substrates uniformly, in the same fashion with the same resulting physical, chemical, electrical, and the like properties across the monolithic substrate.
The ability to process uniformly across an entire monolithic substrate and/or across a series of monolithic substrates is advantageous for manufacturing cost effectiveness, repeatability and control when a desired process sequence flow for IC manufacturing has been qualified to provide devices meeting desired yield and performance specifications. However, processing the entire substrate can be disadvantageous when optimizing, qualifying, or investigating new materials, new processes, and/or new process sequence integration schemes, since the entire substrate is nominally made the same using the same material(s), process(es), and process sequence integration scheme. Conventional full wafer uniform processing results in fewer data per substrate, longer times to accumulate a wide variety of data and higher costs associated with obtaining such data.
As part of the discovery, optimization and qualification process, it is desirable to be able to i) test different materials, ii) test different processing conditions within each unit process module, iii) test different sequencing and integration of processing modules within an integrated processing tool, iv) test different sequencing of processing tools in executing different process sequence integration flows, and combinations thereof in the manufacture of devices such as integrated circuits. In particular, there is a need to be able to test i) more than one material, ii) more than one processing condition, iii) more than one sequence of processing conditions, iv) more than one process sequence integration flow, and combinations thereof, collectively known as “combinatorial process sequence integration”, on a single monolithic substrate without the need of consuming the equivalent number of monolithic substrates per material(s), processing condition(s), sequence(s) of processing conditions, sequence(s) of processes, and combinations thereof. This can greatly improve both the speed and reduce the costs associated with the discovery, implementation, optimization, and qualification of material(s), process(es), and process integration sequence(s) required for manufacturing.
In addition, there is a need to be able to perform such combinatorial process sequence integration testing in a fashion whereby a monolithic substrate can be previously and/or subsequently processed in a separate processing tool(s) within a particular manufacturing flow without the need to alter or modify the separate processing tool and/or process(es) employed in such separate tool. This serves to preserve the importance of the sequencing and interaction(s) with prior or subsequent process(es) performed in the separate process tool(s). Moreover, there is a need to be able to perform such combinatorial process sequence integration testing without the need for creating a specialized substrate to facilitate such combinatorial testing, but instead, to employ substrates and process flows used directly in the manufacture of the desired ICs themselves. This expands upon the more limited capability of testing specific materials properties in specially designed isolated situations which do not capture directly how such materials and their processing relate to the subsequent material(s) and/or processing steps, and interactions thereof in the manufacture of a desired IC or device.